Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Covered California Uncovered

In September 2013, a few weeks before California’s Obamacare
exchange Covered California officially rolled out, Congresswoman Maxine Waters
(D-Los Angeles/Torrance), aka “The
Crazy Black Lady” hosted a taxpayer-funded
town hall in Gardena, CA. After two hours of listening to government
bureaucrats, private consultants, and one nurse sing the praises of Obama,
Waters opened up the forum to questions, complaints, and concerns.

Some residents praised Waters just because of her fighting
for poor people (as if!). Another lady, who had driven from Encino, announced
that the death panels were added after the US Senate reconciliation. A janitor
from Los Angeles Unified School District complained about his new, forced part-time
status, then shared concerns about illegal aliens getting health insurance for
free.

When it was my turn, I shouted:

“As far as I’m concerned, Obamacare can go straight to
hell!”

Waters wanted me to stay and listen to her justify the
program at length. I could not bear being lied to for so long, and I refused to
stay. I left under a cloud of boos.

Two years later, I realize my comments were merely premature.
Obamacare is going to hell, and Covered California is proof that I didn’t have
to help it get there. The Golden State’s Obamacare insurance exchange was
supposed to be the gold standard of government-subsidized healthcare, ending the
rise of uninsured Americans invading emergency rooms and costing the taxpayers
millions of dollars every year.

Of the four
departments included in the audit, Covered California's website had the most
violations of Web accessibility standards. The audit reviewed 57 pages of the
exchange's site and found:

Despite these disturbing trends, this information is not
getting much needed attention. Columbia
Journalism Review examined the media coverage on Covered California, only
to find that the press is repeating the talking points, rather than bringing up
points worth talking about, i.e. people who have signed up but not paid; those
who signed up and paid for the first year, then dropped out; the rising number
of Medi-Cal recipients (people who are not paying much, and thus are floating
on someone else’s money entirely).

Breitbart summarized
some unnerving trends about the exchange:

The Daily Signal noted
that the media has not concentrated on the paucity of enrollees in Covered
California, which has leveled off at 40% of possible candidates, and only
increased one percentage point in 2015. Further, only 65% of Covered
California’s 2014 customers reenrolled in 2015. The Daily Signal also spoke
with current and past Covered California managers who asserted that Covered
California hid contractor waste, fraud, and abuse. Covered California denied
such accusations.

And of course, no one has discussed let alone dissected the
exorbitant costs of the state legislature bringing illegal aliens into
the state exchange.

How bad is this lack of media coverage for Covered
California, anyway?

Besides Breitbart and
Americans for Prosperity,Yelp has listed the state exchange with
one star. . . out of five. Pretty bad. At least Republican Congressional candidates
exposed the rampant failures of Covered CA. In 2014, former Republican
Congressman Doug Ose came out of retirement to unseat freshman Sacramento-area
Congressman Democrat Ami Bera. Narrowly losing the race, Ose campaigned
effectively on the ineffective Covered California program, including tweets like this one
highlighting the growing number of medical professionals not accepting the
Obamacare insurance. The same year, deputy district attorney Elan Carr, running
to replace Obamacare architect Henry Waxman, announced
that patients with Covered CA could not find doctors to care for them.

For some good news, NBC affiliate KCRA, based in Sacramento
reported that individual consumers are feeling the not-so-Covered California
pinch. One customer, Carol James, acknowledged
that her premium costs decreased, but the number and cost on her medical bills
have increased, too. 150,000 people chose not to renew their plans, and in
spite of the President’s oft-repeated, now thoroughly debunked promises,
clients like James are paying more, rationing medications, and delaying medical
care out of concerns over cost.

Wasn’t Obamacare supposed to make health care affordable,
bring down costs? During his first term, President Obama ensured the Affordable
Care Act with that promise: “If you like your doctor, you can keep it. Period.”

With Covered California uncovered, the once-trustworthy standard-bearer
for Obamacare’s long-term success is turning up as another flop, and despite
Governor Brown’s brief
intentions of merging with the now defunct Cover Oregon, it looks as though
more Americans will discover that Obamacare didn’t care, and Covered California
isn’t.